In an attempt to intensify their fight for proper schools in the Eastern Cape, lobby group, Equal Education is asking members of the public to sign a petition to exert pressure on the department of education in this regard.
Equal Education’s deputy head in the province, Amanda Rinquest, said the aim of the petition was to eventually force the department to fix schools in the province which posed an immediate threat to pupils.
A recent report by the lobby group found that 17 of the 60 schools they had visited were in outright violation of the law governing norms and standards.
The first deadline – November 29 2016 – for the minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure, was missed by the Department of Basic Education.
Rinquest said subsequent to the release of the report earlier this year, a meeting was held last month with the Eastern Cape education superintendent-general Themba Kojana.
“A number of requests and commitments made at that meeting remained unfulfilled. For example, we asked the SG to come with us to visit the schools mentioned in our report but that has not happened,” she said.
“The next time we meet with officials from the department we want to present them with the petition and show them that it is not just the 1000 members of Equal Education that demand proper schools for the Eastern Cape child but also those who have signed the petition,” Rinquest said.
Among their demands: Equal Education wants the SG to visit and prioritise renovations to Libode’s Mjaliswa Junior Secondary School and Tolikana Primary School, Mjanyelwa Junior Secondary School in Mbizana and Lower Ntlaza Primary School in Ngqeleni by August 3 2017.
The members also want the department to prepare a budget plan to upgrade these schools and make public the implementing agent and give a timeframe when the work will be completed
Furthermore, the members want the department to create a blacklist of implementing agents which are lagging in completing schools and deduct penalties for slow progress.
Classrooms at the school in Keiskammahoek are made from wood and are falling apart.
The school building used to serve as a military base years ago.
A new school was supposed to have been built to replace the current structures but that is yet to happen. The blacklist should be created by the end of August, the group has demanded.
The petition can be accessed on Equal Education’s Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/equal.
education/) and Twitter page (@equal_education). — arethal@dispatch.co.za
Petition drive to fix schools
Equal Education’s deputy head in the province, Amanda Rinquest, said the aim of the petition was to eventually force the department to fix schools in the province which posed an immediate threat to pupils.
A recent report by the lobby group found that 17 of the 60 schools they had visited were in outright violation of the law governing norms and standards.
The first deadline – November 29 2016 – for the minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure, was missed by the Department of Basic Education.
Rinquest said subsequent to the release of the report earlier this year, a meeting was held last month with the Eastern Cape education superintendent-general Themba Kojana.
“A number of requests and commitments made at that meeting remained unfulfilled. For example, we asked the SG to come with us to visit the schools mentioned in our report but that has not happened,” she said.
“The next time we meet with officials from the department we want to present them with the petition and show them that it is not just the 1000 members of Equal Education that demand proper schools for the Eastern Cape child but also those who have signed the petition,” Rinquest said.
Among their demands: Equal Education wants the SG to visit and prioritise renovations to Libode’s Mjaliswa Junior Secondary School and Tolikana Primary School, Mjanyelwa Junior Secondary School in Mbizana and Lower Ntlaza Primary School in Ngqeleni by August 3 2017.
The members also want the department to prepare a budget plan to upgrade these schools and make public the implementing agent and give a timeframe when the work will be completed
Furthermore, the members want the department to create a blacklist of implementing agents which are lagging in completing schools and deduct penalties for slow progress.
Classrooms at the school in Keiskammahoek are made from wood and are falling apart.
The school building used to serve as a military base years ago.
A new school was supposed to have been built to replace the current structures but that is yet to happen. The blacklist should be created by the end of August, the group has demanded.
The petition can be accessed on Equal Education’s Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/equal.
education/) and Twitter page (@equal_education). — arethal@dispatch.co.za
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